Several Republican senators lambasted the Department of Defense’s (DOD) policy office and its leader for not informing the Senate Armed Services Committee about major decisions, including the withdrawal of some U.S. troops from Romania and halting of some assistance to Ukraine.

“It looks to us like some of the big decisions coming out of the policy shop at the Pentagon are undermining what the president's trying to get done,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said.

Sullivan and other Republican senators hammered Austin Dahmer, the nominee for assistant secretary of Defense for strategy, plans and capabilities, during a confirmation hearing for President Trump's DOD nominees Tuesday. Dahmer, if confirmed, will report to Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of Defense for policy, whom the lawmakers said is nearly impossible to reach.

“You know who the hardest guy to get a hold of in the Trump administration is? The undersecretary of Defense for policy. I hope he’s watching. I’m meeting with him tomorrow. Maybe he’ll cancel on me. I don’t know,” Sullivan said Tuesday.

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